SOBRIETY TEST: Deputies test a DUI suspect at a checkpoint on Crown Valley Parkway. The driver was arrested. PAUL E. RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Traffic collisions

In unincorporated areas of Orange County since January 2005:

• San Juan Capistrano CHP: 89 traffic collisions, 10 involved DUI

• Westminster CHP: 407 traffic collisions, 41 involved DUI

• Santa Ana CHP: 474 traffic collisions, 49 involved DUI

Total roads: 310.5 lane miles of county road

DUI first offense: what to expect

If you're heading out this weekend for a good time at the bars, here are a few sobering reminders of what a DUI charge could cost you.

Time 1 hour in cuffs4 hours in jail3 hours getting car back2 days at the DMV2 days picking up highway trash1 night DUI Victim Impact Panel (at judge's discretion)15 weeks DUI class4 months without a license3 years probation10 years with 2 points on driving record

Quote

“We’ll take all the assistance we can get. My department can’t keep up.”CHP Sgt. Greg Saulman

Ladera Ranch The smell of alcohol, the stumbling legs.

Deputy Dallas Hennessey barely needed his training as a drug recognition expert at the checkpoint he worked Friday.

The six-year Orange County Sheriff's Department veteran arrested a 36-year-old Long Beach man on suspicion of drunken driving while driving on a suspended license. He had a prior DUI in 2002.

Friday marked the first time in almost 20 years that deputies conducted a DUI checkpoint in an unincorporated area of Orange County. Even more checkpoints and roving sheriff's traffic patrols are planned in unincorporated areas from urban Midway City to rural Santiago Canyon.

The Board of Supervisors cleared the way for such efforts when they restored to the sheriff's office the authority to enforce traffic laws on county lands.

The checkpoint, funded by grants from the state Office of Traffic Safety, was the first of many joint ventures between the Sheriff's Department and the California Highway Patrol, which for nearly 20 years had primary jurisdiction over traffic enforcement on county roads. The sheriff received $275,000 for 2006-07.

Deputies and CHP officers together worked the enforcement site at Crown Valley Parkway and Cecil Pasture Road near Ladera Ranch. Of 864 cars screened, three sobriety tests were done, seven drivers were found unlicensed and one driver under 21 had a measurable blood-alcohol level.

"I think a lot of people know we haven't been down here," said Hennessey, 32. "Drunk driving kills a lot of innocent people and for some reason drunks always walk away."

With the new ordinance, the Sheriff's Department can provide traffic enforcement and assist the CHP at its request, in addition to its crime-fighting duties.

"The CHP has applied resources as best they could," said Capt. Jack Anderson, commander of the sheriff's south county operations. "We'll only do it with the CHP's knowledge, so we're not out there fulfilling their mandate."

CHP Sgt. Greg Saulman said that with south Orange County's growth, the extra eyes and ears are welcome.

"We'll take all the assistance we can get," he said. "My department can't keep up. The whole county is outgrowing the sheriff and the CHP."

Saulman says speeding is the area's biggest problem.

Some residents agree and welcome the sheriff's presence.

"A lot of people feel safe, they know the road, their car and they know law enforcement isn't around," said Chuck Gibson, Ladera resident and president of the master-planned community's Traffic Club. "There are times when people are on your bumper and you feel very anxious. You constantly see people pushing the envelope."

In other parts of the county, residents want more law enforcement in their unincorporated communities.

Darrel Nolta has lived in Westminster for almost 20 years. Recently he asked his City Council and the supervisors to improve police services in Midway City - a place he feels lacks adequate police presence.

"The policing by the CHP is a joke," he said. "They're not there. I also haven't seen any sheriff in there since they repealed the ordinance."

CHP Officer Garry Goldenberg, whose office patrols the unincorporated areas of Rossmoor, Midway City and a section of Sunset Beach, said most calls for service are for speeding on residential streets and in school zones. Near the beach there can be more drunken driving-related incidents.

He added that officers gave out 600 speeding tickets in Rossmoor in 2004.

"We have battles with these communities," he said. "Community traffic committees and part of the public supports us and then the other half doesn't want us in there."

While he welcomes help, he'd like it to come from his own office.

"I'd like to see us have more officers out there," he said. "We are the agency who does traffic best. I don't want to see the sheriff come in here and do our job."

Residents in the canyon and the unincorporated parts of Orange Park Acres near Orange want to see Santiago Canyon Road made safer. People who live in the area, as well as visitors to a nearby cemetery and rock-recycling plant, all use the winding, four-lane canyon road.

"I see speeding every day," said Tom Davidson, a 19-year resident of the area. "You can't find a better road than Santiago through the canyons to be stupid on. We've had at least seven major accidents with five fatalities on a road near the cemetery known as 'dead man's curve.' We most definitely need more law enforcement here."

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